Keynote Reaction 17-2

We build empathy by trying to understand the other person's problem or situation the best we can. We have to put ourselves into their perspective and try to understand why the other person feels the way they do.

How do we build empathy when we meet people virtually?

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another, which is hard to do virtually because emotions aren't shared as easily as they are in person. You can't see someones body language or facial expressions over the internet so building empathy will take longer. To build empathy virtually I think you need to have more personal conversations and talk one on one rather than try to reach out to everyone through a single comment or post. Starting off with one post to everyone is a good place to start because from there someone can reach out to you and then the conversation can become less general and more detailed.

What do you know and think about the need for empathy?

I think everyone needs to have empathy. If no one has empathy no one can understand anyone else. People would hurt someone else and never be able to apologize because they don't see what they did wrong.

How important is it to have empathy in order to be able to collaborate with others?

It is very important to have empathy to be able to work with others because different people feel different ways about different things and you need to understand that or you can hurt someone's feelings without meaning to.

What strategies are YOU using to build empathy in your cross-classroom, global team?

I try to build empathy by responding to other student's comments and I try to find common interests with other students by reading their virtual handshake/introduction blog post then commenting on their post.